


Single Parent

by I May Age Regress (shnuffeluv)



Series: The Adventures of Polyamorous Parenting [4]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Anxiety, Arguing, M/M, Making Up, Miscommunication, Multi, Non-Sexual Age Play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-10-20 11:58:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17621978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shnuffeluv/pseuds/I%20May%20Age%20Regress
Summary: Nick and Tim are still on rocky grounds, but hopefully soon they can get through it. (Hopefully before Clay goes mad.)





	Single Parent

Tim and Nick were civil after the discussion at dinner, and Tim was silently thankful Nick wasn't poking any of his other insecurities. He loved Nick, more than words could say, but sometimes he was just...a jerk. When Tim got ready for bed that night Nick put a hand on his shoulder, and Tim turned to him. "We good?" he asked.

Nodding, Tim responded, "We're good."

Nick nodded and left it at that, getting in bed, leaving Tim to follow him before Clay came in half an hour later. Tim couldn't sleep, long after his boyfriends had succumbed to it. He couldn't stop thinking about Nick's words, and Gibbs' pushing, and his own internal struggle to figure out a balance between his private life and his work life. It seemed like everyone he had relied on to help him over the years had failed in some aspect or another, except Clay. Clay hasn't had the chance, his mind informed him.

Yes he has. Nick has had the chance, so obviously Clay has as well, Tim thought in retaliation.

Though that led him to a new problem. Could he go to Clay every time he was having difficulty with something? It didn't seem like a good idea, but then again, Clay was the only one who hadn't messed up. Clay was the one actively trying to make things better. So maybe he should just go to Clay when he was having trouble.

"I can hear you thinking," Clay mumbled into Tim's shoulder, voice heavy with sleep. "Try to relax, love, you have a big day tomorrow."

Tim sighed, rolling over in bed so he was facing Clay. "I can't. I've tried and I can't."

"I know you can," Clay said, pushing away a stray lock of Tim's hair. "You've done it before, you can do it again. Just focus on your breathing."

Tim closed his eyes and followed Clay's breathing, and before he knew it, he was asleep.

The next morning Tim woke up to Nick almost screaming obscenities as he writhed in bed, hitting Tim more than once. "Ugh, you mind?" Tim grumbled.

"Clay...ngh...opened the curtains!" Nick shouted.

Tim blinked, uncomprehending. "Yeah? So?"

"So," Nick said, "I can't sleep when he opens the curtains!"

"I can't sleep when you're constantly hitting and kicking me," Tim retaliated, getting out of bed. "Take it up with Clay. Since I'm up, I'm gonna take a shower."

Nick grumbled and Tim resisted the urge to say something he'd regret. Nick made it really hard for him to stay civil sometimes. He knew that the back-and-forth was part of the reason Tim enjoyed talking to Nick, but not this early in the morning, and not when Nick hit below the belt.

Once in the bathroom taking a shower, Tim could feel some of the tenseness in his shoulders melt away. Honestly, he didn't realize he was so tense half the time, but every once in a while, when he allowed himself to relax, he was always surprised by how much stress he had been carrying. He owed Tony an apology. He had always assumed the job of being Gibbs' SFA was a little more work, not the emotional equivalent of hiking up Mt. Everest every day. Keeping up with paperwork, making sure Nick and Bishop weren't on the receiving end of Gibbs' ire when he got agitated, and continuing all the investigative work he did as a junior agent, he was surprised Tony stayed as sane as he did.

He grabbed breakfast in the form of a Pop-Tart from the boxes Nick always demanded they have on hand, and dashed out the door to get to work early. Hopefully he could beat Gibbs to work. If he didn't, well, he might get a glare but he probably wouldn't get yelled at.

As it turned out, Tim met Gibbs in the elevator, and Gibbs looked him over. "You feeling better today?" he asked.

Tim shrugged. "Better is relative," he simply responded.

Gibbs turned his head towards Tim. "I need to know you won't storm off in the middle of a case every time Nick decides to stand up to you."

"That wasn't standing up for himself. That was mocking," Tim said, trying not to grind his teeth. "I don't mind him standing up for himself. But if he's gonna talk down to me, I refuse to entertain him."

Gibbs grunted.

Tim looked over, and decided to push just a little. "Surely you would have done the same thing as SFA?"

Gibbs glared at him. "When I was SFA, I made sure my agents wouldn't feel comfortable enough to mock me in the first place."

Tim shook his head and the door opened to the bullpen. The two of them got to work in uneasy silence. Bishop walked in soon after, and Nick came in last, grumbling. Tim resisted the urge to roll his eyes or ask what was wrong. He knew he wouldn't be nice if Nick decided to snarl at him.

Whenever Nick got too agitated with something that morning, Tim would make an excuse to go see Clay. At first it was to just deliver paperwork, but then it was forgetting to return a stapler, or needing his opinion on a case that didn't exist. Clay looked tired that morning, but whenever Tim came over he would at least try to smile. Though they both knew Clay knew something was up. Tim wasn't going to say what in the office, though. He didn't want to become the center of scuttlebutt.

It was when Tim was just about ready to bite Nick's head off and he had run out of excuses to see Clay, that the man swooped in to the bullpen and said, "Boys, lunch?"

Tim agreed quickly, and Nick tagged along, looking somewhat reluctant. They left the Navy Yard for a small cafe easily five miles away, where no one would look for them. Clay got Tim and Nick their preferred lunches before sitting down and saying, "We're gonna continue our talk from last night sooner than I'd like, but it needs to be done. Now."

Nick growled and went to stand up, saying, "If you two want to be touchy-feely, leave me out of it."

"Sit," Clay ordered.

Tim's eyes widened ever-so-slightly. Clay never ordered anything from the two of them. It had Tim feeling uneasy, off-balance. A balance he desperately needed after his whole world had been flipped on its head not even a week before.

Nick sat down, though he made it clear he was unhappy.

Clay ran a hand down his face and said, "I'll be honest with you two: MI6 is giving me grief at every turn right now, and I really can't handle the extra distraction of you two fighting. And don't even try to pretend you're not; it's not gonna work."

Nick scoffed. "If Tim stood up for himself and stopped letting everyone walk all over him, maybe I'd consider being nicer. I'm teaching him to grow a backbone."

"I have enough of a backbone because of Tony, thanks," Tim growled. "I don't need you mocking me and disrespecting me at every turn!"

Nick opened his mouth to speak but Clay shot him with a glare. "You even think about saying what I know you're going to say, I'll pull you over my knee." Clay turned to Tim. "Sweetpea, please try to behave, all right? We don't need you and Nick fighting right now."

Tim felt his eyes get hot. It wasn't even the worst infantilizing thing he had ever heard, but that nickname was close enough to baby talk to have him little. He played with the napkin in his hands as he tried his hardest to keep the tears back. He didn't think it was gonna work for long.

Papa grabbed one of his hands and Tim risked a glance up. Papa was tired, but trying to understand, and Tim suddenly felt incredibly guilty for using him as a crutch around Daddy today. Daddy just looked angry. "Sweetpea, I know you don't like talking about your feelings when big. So I'm going to be a little unfair right now and ask you about your feelings when little."

Tim swallowed and took his hand back. "I don't wanna talk about it." Daddy scoffed. "I don't! I don't wanna say what I feel an' be honest, if it means you'll just be mad or mock me!"

Daddy paled. Papa pushed forward. "Why would we do that, sweetpea?"

"Everyone does," Tim said with a scowl. "Even Tony would be mean sometimes. He wanted me to toughen up, an' I did enough to make him happy. An' it kept me from hurting 'cause Gibbs decided to get mean a lot. But Tony would at least apologize later. I...I show that I feel angry now, and Daddy gets mad back. I say I'm worried, and Gibbs tells me to toughen up or stop being a baby, 'cause I need to have more faith in my partners." Tim's breath hitched in his throat and he tried to keep the tears back, he really did, but he couldn't any more. "I do believe in you guys. But you're not invincible! You can get hurt an' I don't want that to happen! An' I can't be there to help 'cause I have too much work at the office! Not to mention all the times I have to make Gibbs madder at me than he is to you guys, because I can handle it but you guys haven't seen just how mean he can be! I...I just want to make sure you're as safe as possible, but then you don't listen! An' you say I'm being silly or stupid an' I'm not! I'm just worried!"

He was practically sobbing at this point. Daddy was looking stunned and ashamed. Papa just rubbed his shoulder sympathetically. "You need to tell us these things, sweetpea. We don't always know what you're thinking. And you can't just come to me whenever Nick becomes too much to deal with. I'm not a single parent. We're both here to help you. You just need to explain why you don't like a thing we're doing and we'll try to accommodate you."

Tim rubbed at his eyes and shook his head miserably. "I can't do it," he said. "I can't do it anymore. I'm...I'm not made to be SFA."

"Tim, you're stronger than you give yourself credit for," Papa said. "But Gibbs is demanding the impossible from you. It's not fair to ask you to do all the things he does and then expect you to do case work and keep everyone in line. You're just one man. And you might not know how to stand up to Gibbs enough to say 'no' every time, but you know what's part of an SFA job and what isn't, right?"

Tim nodded.

"Then you can say no to what's not in the job description. Cut down on your pressure just a little bit. And if you get used to everything and you think you can handle it at that point, you silently do it, not bothering to tell Gibbs that you're gonna do it, so if you fail, he can't yell at you," Papa explained.

Tim sniffled and nodded again. "Okay," he said softly. "I can try."

"That's all we ask," Papa said.

"Well, I might ask for one more thing," Daddy said. "And I understand if I don't get it, but I'd like a second chance."

Tim risked a glance at him and made a questioning noise.

"I've been screwing up since day one," Daddy sighed. "Don't bother trying to tell me it isn't true, because we both know it is. Clay has been doing all the heavy lifting. And I haven't realized that you're being pushed beyond your limits on all sides. I didn't know that standing up to Gibbs might be something you simply don't have the energy or the will to do. I've been pushing you to do things my way, when you have your own way of handling this. I won't pretend to understand your methods, but I haven't made this whole thing easy for you. I'm supposed to help you, not tear you down more. I don't know how to help you yet, but if you think of something, let me know. I'll do my best to lend a hand. And if I do something bad, please tell me. I won't know if you don't speak up."

Tim nodded. "Okay."

Daddy offered him a thankful smile. Papa checked his watch. "We have a little more time before we need to head back to the office. Let's finish lunch up quickly."

With a nod, all of them went back to their lunches, and Tim could feel a tiny bit better after crying. After all, he was at least being listened to now. Hopefully that could turn things around a bit.


End file.
